


Three's a crowd (but what a lovely crowd it is)

by vaindumbass



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Muggle, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Bad Pick-Up Lines, Flirting, Getting Together, Multi, Pining, Polyamory, Sirius Black & Lily Evans Potter Friendship, if that wasn't obvious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:01:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23705041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vaindumbass/pseuds/vaindumbass
Summary: The story of how Regulus and Lily got together, walked into a bar as a couple, and walked out of the bar with James in their arms.(featuring the start of a reconcilation between Sirius and Regulus, bad pick-up lines, and one matchmaking Aberforth)
Relationships: Regulus Black/James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Regulus Black/Lily Evans Potter, Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 22
Kudos: 122





	1. How Regulus and Lily got together

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Wallopthewicked](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wallopthewicked/gifts).



> Okay so this was inspired by a prompt of the amazing [ WallopTheWicked ](https://www.tumblr.com/dashboard/blog/wallopthewicked) (on tumblr)
> 
> They make truly amazing art, check it out!

"Sirius." Lily says, and in all these years of friendship Sirius has learnt when Lily is being serious and when she isn't, and right now? Right now Lily is really fucking serious.

The smile, the too-loud-laughter dies on his lips and he stills. "Oh", he says, and it comes out softer and smaller and weaker than he'd intended. "You meant it." He says.

"Yes." And that's it.

The thing is, Lily knows him too well, knows that if she's silent long enough, he'll speak up.

"How did you find him?" he asks, and he thinks to himself that it's a funny thing how Regulus, someone who Lily had never known, someone who Sirius didn't know, not really, was such a big part of their friendship.

They had met at school, a long time ago, and at first Sirius had thought her below him, and she had thought him too arrogant. Only one of them had been right, but things changed.

One day, he talked to her about a book he was reading (he'd read it already, to impress Remus). One day, she found him after Regulus, who'd been young and scared and long-forgiven, had told him he should be kicked out of the family.

One day, he went to find her after she'd gotten a letter from her sister. One day, they were sitting on her bed, laughing, talking about boys (and sometimes girls, in Lily's case), and Sirius thought _how in the world did this happen_ and _I'm glad it did._

She had been there for him when he lost Regulus. Maybe it was fate that she would be the one who found his sibling. His dramatic and poetical musings are cut short, however, when Lily answers the question.

"I'll be honest with you. I met him about a year ago."

Sirius looks up, then looks down on the ugly green couch in Lily's apartment, and he doesn't look her in the eye. "That long ago?"

"That long ago. They didn't recognize me at first, and when they did, they asked me not to tell you."

Sirius tries to process that information. One thing at the time, he decides.

"They?"

Lily nods.

"You said they didn't want you to tell. What changed?"

"Well", Lily starts, her hands stretching the hem of the oversized sweater she's wearing, "I tried to put in a good word for you."

He has honestly already forgiven her, because he knows her, knows she's too kind for her own good and that she would never lie to him, so he sighs, and puts his head in her lap.

She immediately starts braiding his hair, because she knows a peace offering when she sees one.

For a moment they sit there in silence, and Sirius thinks back to Regulus. Stupid, snarky, kind, brave and stubborn Regulus. Stubborn Regulus.

He twists so he faces Lily, who had just finished the braid. "How close, exactly, did you get with my sibling?"

Now it's Lily's turn to look away. "We became friends, I think."

Sirius took in her blush and her too-bright eyes and said: "Just friends?"

She swatted him with one of the pillows she kept laying around for exactly that purpose.

He started tickling her, knowing that he had the upper hand, but before it could escalate even further she created some distance between them, caught his hands in a surprisingly strong grip, and said: "Do you really want to do this? Because in that case, we can also just talk about Remus."

Sirius frees his hands in one swift movement. "What about Remus and I? We're just friends!"

Lily simply raises an eyebrow, "Just friends?"

"Oh, nice, using my own words against me. Our situations are completely different."

"Really?" Lily retorts, "Because it seems to me that we're both hopelessly pining for someone who doesn't like us back"

He bites back the: Ha! So you do like him! And says instead: "You still have a chance, gingersnaps. Reggie is really fucking stubborn, so if you could convince them, you must mean quite a lot to them."

She coughs, and extended a scrap of paper to him, "Anyway, here's their number. You should, and I quote, "not wear it out".

"My, oh my", Sirius says, wiggling his eyebrows, "You already got their number? You don't waste any time, Evans." (He'd decided to ignore the fact that Lily had already known them for a year.)

"Shut up."

He carefully puts the paper in one of his pockets. "Thanks." He doesn't say anything else; Lily knows how much this means to him.

* * *

"I gave Sirius your number" Lily blurts out, because she's nothing if not honest.

Regulus looks up to here from where they're sitting, moving that one strand of hair away from their eyes with one casual move of their head, and while that satisfies the part of Lily that was aching to brush it behind their ears, it also releases a whole new kind of longing. The move is just so _familiar._

"Finally. I gave you permission _ages_ ago."

And they had, but that wasn't the point. The point was that they hadn't been ready, not _really_ , that their face had fallen back into a mask -a teasing mask, but a mask nonetheless- when they said: "If I say yes, will you shut up about it already?", that sometimes they would look at her with a question in their eyes, without ever actually saying something. The point was that Lily _still_ wasn't sure if they were ready.

"That you did." And, shit, Lily needs to say something else now, because she sounds almost unbearably fond, even to her own ears. "Doesn't mean I need to do it right away."

Regulus scoffs. "I didn't say that."

It'd be almost impossible to stop the smile tugging at the corners of her lips, so Lily decides to not even try to. "It was heavily implied."

They roll their eyes. "Oh, so that hint you _do_ pick up." It's muttered under their breath, and Lily is still standing in the doorway, has just finished hanging up her coat, and there was still enough distance between them that Lily is sure she wasn't meant to hear that.

But she does. She's walked over to where they were sitting on the couch faster than she usually did, because she hadn't seen them in a few days, and Regulus looks up in surprise. Their eyes widen.

It occurs to Lily that she can pretend she didn't hear that. She wouldn't even have to lie. She could just easily shift the conversation to a different topic.

She doesn't want to, because there's the slightest chance that it means what Lily hopes what it means. "Oh? What hints have I missed, then?"

And they- they stammer a bit, and they turn red, and for once, they don't answer with something witty.

It's undeniable, then, that they are very close to each-other, and Regulus moves in, just a little bit, and Lily wonders if this is a hint, too.

She moves in too, but she doesn't stop like they did, she just gets closer and closer, slow enough that Regulus can move away any moment. They don't.

She kisses them. It should be far from perfect, because Lily is still standing and Regulus is still sitting, but it isn't, and then it gets _better_ , because they stand up and get even closer, and then they pull Lily down with them on the couch, and oh, Lily really should've thought of that herself, why hadn't she?

And then she realizes that she's kissing _Regulus_ , and she thinks _ah, so that's why._


	2. walking into the bar as a couple

Lily didn't really understand how she had fallen into this easy routine with Regulus so fast, but she didn't mind. She didn't mind at all. 

"It's probably because you already knew them before. You just add things to an already good dynamic." 

Lily looked at the way Sirius downed his drink. 

"How's that going for Remus and you?" 

"Bad. So, _so_ , bad. I don't know what the hell I'm supposed to do! I can't just continue like before, because things have changed, but we were already very" he gestures vaguely with his hands, as if it's possible to pluck the word he's looking for out of the air "coupley before, and I thought it would get better after we got together, but sometimes he just smiles at me and my brain fucking short-circuits!" 

She nods sympathetically. 

He continues, with extra emphasis, like Lily doesn't understand the gravity of the situation. "Last time that happened, I told him I loved him! Who even does that? We've only been together for a month and three days- I'm such a mess." 

"Okay, so, first things first. Remus already knows you're a mess. Has known for literal years." Before he can interrupt, she raises a finger. "That brings me to my second point. You already told me you loved him five years ago, but- Do you love him?" 

Sirius looks to the ground "...yes." 

"Then what's the harm? This is _Remus_ we're talking about, you can't tell me he reacted badly. He's put up with your stupid shit for longer than I have." 

"Well", Sirius starts, and the floor must be really interesting all of a sudden because he still hadn't taken his eyes of it. "I wouldn't know. About his reaction." 

She stares at him in absolute shock, mouth wide open. "Sirius.", and yes, they're friends, but he still flinches when she uses that tone because Lily Evans is truly terrifying when she wants to be, "You dumbass. You told him you loved him and then walked away? Without even texting him once?" (She was right; she knew him too well) 

He clears his throat. "I turned off my phone, actually." 

"Of course you did.", she spits, but she's already less angry than before. "Look, Remus is my friend too, so as soon as we're done here, you're gonna go to him and talk about this." 

Sirius is already standing up, afraid that he'll lose his courage if he waits any longer. 

"Wait", Lily tugs at his shirt, "We're not done yet. You still haven't replied to Regulus' message." 

"They told you?" 

"It wasn't that hard to figure out; they've been a nervous wreck ever since they pressed send." 

He actually felt bad then, but he'd had his reasons. He still had his reasons, but they seemed a little less important now. Regulus had asked to meet up; Sirius had panicked a little, and then Remus had said "What's wrong?" with that adorable soft smile of his and well- Sirius brain had short-circuited (the rest of the story is known) 

But he could do this, he thought. "I'll do it." 

"Good. Now shoo.", she said, practically shoving him at the door. 

* * *

They had, in the end, agreed on meeting in a bar. Sirius accompanied by Remus, and Regulus by Lily. It was going pretty well, Regulus thought. The conversation had been light, and no one had brought up their family yet, but it was weird. 

Regulus thought that one day they would have to talk about it, about Sirius running away asking, begging Regulus to go with him; about Regulus who had declined; about Regulus running away a few years later, completely dropping from the face of the world; about the Black family's numerous scandals and crimes being published by an anonymous source around the same time. Just not this day. 

This day they would just talk and laugh and debate about unimportant things (no matter how much Sirius insisted that "speculations about McGonagall's relationships _are_ important, you can't just- you can't just ignore them! "Pretty sure he can, love."). 

And if Regulus took advantage of this moment to get just a bit closer to Lily than strictly appropriate, who could blame them? She was just a little bit too good for them, a little bit too good to be true, and kissing her and making her laugh were as good a way of making sure she was real as any. 

Sirius had then did some weird older brother routine on Lily, and a whole you-hurt-her-I-hurt-you-thing with Regulus, but they were kind of distracted by the new bartender walking in. 

He had the biggest mess of hair Regulus had ever seen (and they had seen Sirius' hair in the mornings), an even bigger smile, sparkling brown eyes, and very, very nice forearms which contrasted very, very nicely with the white button-up he was wearing, the sleeves rolled up. 

He was _gorgeous._

_"_ I completely agree, those _eyes._ " Lily said, and _oh shit had they said that out lou_ _d._

They panicked just a little. "Well, we already knew I had great taste." they said, throwing a meaningful look towards her. 

"Flatterer." 

Was she okay with this? Lily didn't seem to worry about anything, throwing her head back in laughter at something Remus said. She didn't _seem_ jealous, or anything like that. 

It would be fine. It _was_ fine, apparently. He shrugs, and decided to inquire what, exactly, Remus had said that was so funny. 

Soon enough he was laughing too, and his worries had already started fading. That is, until Sirius said: "Don't look right now, but the 'gorgeous' barista is staring at you two" 

They didn't know what to do, again. 

"Good staring or bad staring?" Lily asked, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. 

"If you guys are interested in him," Remus answered, sitting next to Sirius so that he, too, had a good view of the bar, "Then it's good staring, if you aren't, it's more like... pitiable staring." 

Regulus snorted at that. Lily turned to them. "Are we interested in him?" 

And, well, to be fair, Regulus was. They had the impression she was too. "I... think so? I am, at least." 

She nodded. "It's settled then. Remus, are you sure he's staring at the both of us?" 

"About 80 percent sure. If you really want to find out you could kiss." 

"And how, pray tell, would that help?" Regulus said, ignoring the fact that they'd gladly kiss her even if it wasn't useful. 

Sirius decided to explain. "If you guys kiss and he looks jealous, then he's probably only interested in one of you. If he looks like he couldn't care less, then he was probably only looking at that weird painting of a spaceship behind you. And I don´t think I need to explain what would happen if he looked like he wanted to join in." 

It... made more sense than they had expected. "You okay with that?" 

"Oh, absolutely." Lily said. 

Their kiss could've lasted longer. Lily nor Regulus was opposed to that idea, but as it was, the loud sound of shattering glass made them jump apart. 

Almost everyone in the bar looked over to the place where the sound had come from, but all that they could see was an embarrassed mop of wild dark hair, eady moving to clean up the pieces. 

Luckily, some people had been watching the place of the accident before the accident itself had happened. One of these people was named Sirius. 

"Okay, so, he's totally interested in the both of you. Years of living in this beautiful body have enabled me to see when someone is interested, and when they're not, and let me tell you, this guy is _very i_ nterested." 

"The dropping of the glass might also have been a hint", Remus added. 

"Well, we don't want to overwhelm him. I'll go first." They offered. 

"Fine. But I get the first kiss." 

"Deal." They grinned. This was going to be fun. 

"Remember that he's working, okay?" Remus said, "It could be hard for him to reject you, and you can't distract him too much." 

"I won't," Regulus said, and then they walked off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for reading! It'd be really cool if you left kudos (and I'd sell you my soul for a comment), but you obviously don't need to!


	3. walking out of the bar with James in their arms

James was an idiot. He knew that much. But he didn't think it had to be this obvious. Two mildly attractive (Okay, very attractive) persons kiss, and he immediately stopped functioning? Pathetic. 

He had, admittedly been watching them before that had even happened. How could he not? 

His eyes had immediately been drawn to them. But it wasn't just the stunning green eyes of one of them, or the swell of their lips around a lip ring of the other. It wasn't even caused Green Eyes' lipbiting, or the dimple that appeared in Lip Ring's cheek when they smiled. 

The thing that made him look, the thing that made something in his heart _ache_ was the way Green Eyes brushed a strand of hair behind Lip Ring's hair, casually, yet so very intimate and affectionate and _loving_. It was the soft smile on Lip Ring's lips as they looked at this beautiful woman doubling over in laughter. 

But none of these things had made him drop everything in his hands. Somewhere, deep inside, James wondered if it was really because of the kiss and not more because he could've sworn that they'd looked at him, both of them had, right before they'd kissed. 

It was stupid. It was stupid and it was going to cost him his job if he kept this up, so he didn't look anymore. He wanted to, yes, but he didn't. That probably explained why he almost dropped everything again when Lip Ring appeared before him. 

He threw them his most charming smile (it only felt a little off) "What can I get for you?" 

"Oh, I don't know. A date with us, maybe?" 

James was very, very happy he wasn't holding anything anymore. Although that may have divided the attention from the way he was stammering and turning red. He'd had his fair share of flirty customers, but he'd never reacted this way. 

They smiled. It was a beautiful sharp little thing. "Don't worry, I won't bother you too much while you're working." They continued to order, and James was lucky that all the motions were muscle-memory at this point, because his head was somewhere else. 

This person was considerate, but also flirting with him while their partner was _right there._ They had also said _us,_ a date with _us._ And not only that, but now Green Eyes was coming over too. 

She walked up to Lip Ring, and wrapped an arm around them, sharing a smile. 

"What, you couldn't wait any longer?", they said, amused. 

"What can I say, I was...", she slowly looked James up and down "thirsty. " 

Lip Ring dissolved into laughter, hiding their snorts in her shoulder. She looked at them proudly, but she didn't stop there. 

"Luckily, I see you already have a tall drink of water behind this bar.", she said, wiggling her eyebrows. Lip Ring sounded like they were dying. 

James handed them their drinks, trying very hard not to blush nor smile. He failed spectacularly. 

"Thanks for serving us..." James wanted to say it was no problem, but it turned out she wasn't finished quite yet. "Serving us those looks!" 

At his point, James really couldn't keep it in anymore. He laughed long and loudly, and thought that maybe he should take the date-offer. 

"If you ever have a break, or something, you are welcome at our table", Lip Ring said while paying for the drinks, pale skin flushed from laughing , "We weren't completely kidding." 

"I'm Lily, by the way, and the one who dared to suggest I was even slightly joking is Regulus." 

"Oh, so you _weren't_ kidding?" They said, voice dripping with skepticism. 

"Of course not! Look, on that side of the bar is a glass of water." 

"That wasn't what you meant in the _slightest_ and we both know it." As they walked away, their voices faded. James' gaze followed them. 

"I assume that you'll be going on your break, _or something?"_ Aberforth suddenly said. 

He looked at his boss. "I don't _have_ a break this shift." 

Aberforth began to clean one of the cups, looking down at his hands in surprise (James had started to slowly replace the dirty rags with new ones), shrugged, and said: "If you want to have one, this is your chance." 

"Oh, thanks. That's nice of you." He knew Aberforth abhorred being called nice, or kind. 

And sure enough, he scoffed, "Please, I'm not doing this for you. If you guys end up dating I'll get more customers, that's all." 

"Sure, sure. Bye!" 

He went into the backroom to change out of his uniform, but unfortunately, that gave him enough time to start doubting his decision. Could he just walk up to them? Sure, it was said that he was welcome, but Regulus and Lily weren't alone at the table, he had seen that much. 

Maybe those other two wouldn't want him to join. _Maybe_ , he paused on the doorstep, _Lily and Regulus didn't even want him to join._

"What're you still doing here? Get out of the way." Aberforth shoved him none-too-gently towards the couple. Before James could turn around and flee the building, Regulus saw him, smiled, and waved him over. 

When he was hovering awkwardly near the boot, Lily stood up and made him sit between her and Regulus. James was pretty sure that the booth was only made for two people but he didn't mind. Neither did Regulus and Lily. 

His placement had one drawback though. He could only look at one of them at the time, and it was almost impossible to avoid eyecontact with the two other people present. 

Luckily, James had never been shy (before, he'd been surprised, and gone all deer-in-the-headlights. There was a difference.) "So", he started, "I'm James, who are you guys?" 

The man with the long, dark hair who looked remarkably like Regulus (where they family?) replied: "My name is Sirius, and his is Remus." Remus gave an awkward little wave. James liked him already 

Remus and Sirius looked at each other, and seemed to communicate without words. For a moment James was reminded of mornings watching his parents in the kitchen, with the same wordless conversations. The moment passed though, and Remus and Sirius got up. 

"We'll just leave you to your date then", Remus said, rubbing the back of his neck, "have fun," 

Regulus nodded, James stammered a thanks, Lily just grinned. 

"And be safe!" Sirius yelled over his shoulder. 

* * *

Lily was calm, cool and collected. She would not be phased by anything. Not even the sliver of warm dark skin that had showed when James had bent towards Regulus. She wouldn't even peek, let alone stare. She would just look at the ceilin- okay so maybe she was staring. 

And, fuck, Regulus had caught her staring. Did they have to look so smug about it? Like they weren't just as bad, she thought grumpily, watching Regulus go all moon-eyed over that _smile_ _._

She supposed that could be a problem, how easy it would be to fall in love with him. James was funny, seemed to like their friends, and was so full of energy it practically radiated off him. 

It would probably all be fine though, if Lily was interpreting the smitten look on James face the right way. Maybe she should say something about that. 

She took her chance the moment Regulus went to order them some new drinks (nothing with alcohol; they had all silently decided they'd like to remember this night as clearly as possible), while James looked at their retreating back. 

"Already falling for them? Don't worry, I'll be there to catch you." 

James laughed sheepishly, ( _cute.)_ _"_ Am I that obvious?" 

Oh. She had been right. She'd thought it was just a case of seeing what you want to see. "Nah, I'm just pretty observant." 

"You sure about that?" 

"What do you mean?" 

James took a long sip of his drink. "It seemed like you were talking about me falling for _only_ them." 

She looked at him, wide-eyed, "And you're not?" 

He finished his drink. "I thought that was obvious." 

"You know, Regulus and I made a deal." 

"Oh?" 

"They'd get to talk to you first, and I- I would get the first kiss." 

He got a bit closer. "Is that so?" 

She licked her lips. "Oh, absolutely." 

And then they were kissing, Lily's hands finally in that soft-looking hair and it was _heaven_ _._

That was how Regulus found them, so close that there was suddenly enough space for two other people on the small bench. They supposed it was only fair, and they weren't one to break their word. Still, their patience didn't last forever, no matter how lovely the sight. 

They coughed. The two broke apart slowly. 

"I suppose it's your turn now, huh?" Lily said grinning, a blush high on her pale skin. 

"If you're okay with that?" they said, looking at James. He nodded, and turned to face them. 

Their legs met each other under the table, but that was fine. The most important thing was that their lips met each other above the table. Their kisses were slow and unhurried and starting to pick Regulus apart at the seams. 

They took Lily's hand to ground themself, and suddenly James was kissing Lily but that was fine, great even, because that meant they got to kiss James' _neck_. 

They all had to stop to breathe though, unfortunately. 

"So,", James said, lips red and swollen, "I take it the offer for a date still stands?" 

"Of course.", Lily answered, and then they talked some more, and kissed some more, and sometime when they were all laughing about something that wasn't even that funny the other barman kicked them out. 

So they exchanged phone-numbers, and Regulus kissed James goodbye, and then Lily kissed James goodbye, and then Regulus kissed Lily for good measure, and then they parted ways, giddy and hopeful for the future. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes James is able to see what pronouns people use from a three-meter distance. No I will not take constructive critisism about this.
> 
> I have a few ideas for a seguel, but idk.
> 
> Kudos and comments are always amazingly appreciated!


End file.
